ESSER III Expenditures
American Rescue Plan
(ESSER III)
Projected Expenses
How will the funds be used to implement prevention and mitigation strategies that are, to the greatest extent practicable, consistent with the most recent CDC guidance on reopening schools, in order to continuously and safely open and operate schools for in-person learning?
We have set aside funds to purchase a new bus and a suburban-type vehicle to reduce the number of students riding in the vehicles. This will help us provide for social distancing.
Funds have been reserved to purchase and update HVAC systems to provide better air flow and filtration to help keep the air safe for our students and staff. In addition, additional funds for maintenance have been set aside for extra cleaning supplies, masks, sanitizer, and the cost of extra cleaning within buildings on campus.
How will Sequoyah Schools use the funds it reserved to address the academic impact of lost instructional time through the implementation of evidence-based interventions, such as summer learning or summer enrichment, extended day, comprehensive after school programs, or extended school year?
Each building site will be developing plans to address student loss through after school, during breaks in programming, and summer programs. The district has partnered with Rogers State University to provide televised lessons and activities that will be free and readily available to all students through the RSU-TV station. Classroom teachers activate chat boxes and conduct follow-up activities through Google classroom. When we used the RSU-TV format previously, approximately 70% of our students participated. Many of our families have internet connectivity issues due to our rural location and topographical challenges. Watson & McIntyre (2020) indicated that educational television is effective, especially for rural, low-income families. We have already recorded lessons that will be available during holidays and after school. Additional content will be recorded and streamed through the university station. SPS is currently providing tutoring before and after school. At the elementary, students who score in the bottom quartile in the area of literacy based on Star Reading assessments, are provided after-school tutoring one time/week. Groups are re-evaluated every nine-weeks. At the middle school, there is a tutor on staff during the school day as well as before and after-school tutoring for any student who wishes to participate. The high school has tutoring available before school for any student who wishes to participate. Sites will submit their detailed plans to address learning loss after January 1, 2022. Each site will develop summer programs, programs for breaks in the school calendar, and before/after school. Summer programs will target both students at the lower end of the academic spectrum as well as those at the upper end. At that time plans will be finalized for summer programming that has been selected and planned by each building.
How will Sequoyah Schools spend its remaining ESSER III funds consistent with the uses authorized in section 2001(d)(2) of the ARP Act?
Sequoyah Public Schools has budgeted funds for the following authorized uses:
Education Technology ($55,000) - this will be used to purchase new interactive white boards for classrooms. The use of this technology provides for hands-on learning activities for students of all ages. In addition, teachers will be able to record their presentation from the interactive board that will include their notes. This can and will be used for students not in the classroom due to illness, quarantine, etc.
Improving school facilities to reduce risk of transmission and exposure ($80,000) - SPS is concerned about the amount of time students have spent isolated and in front of screens. We acknowledge that these measures were needed, but believe students need opportunities for safe interactions and wellness activities. For that reason, we have designated this line item for new playground equipment that will allow students to be on the playground, yet remain socially distanced. In addition, one of our weight rooms will be redesigned so our PE classes can use this during class and still remain socially distant. Other items considered for the three-year implementation are walking track around campus, fitness equipment for use in PE and on the playground.
Other activities that are necessary to maintain the operation of and continuity of services in local educational agencies and continuing to employ existing staff of the local educational agency $575,970.96 - these funds will be used as follows:
Recruitment and Retention Stipends: Finding and retaining education staff has become very difficult during these turbulent times. SPS recognizes that our staff all have options for employment in other districts and the private sector. We are thankful they have decided to return to SPS for the 2021/22 school year and want to acknowledge the amount of work they have done over the past few years. Our teaching and support staff had to totally rework their education approach to provide for distance learning, our maintenance staff worked many extra hours to make sure our facilities were clean and sanitized for our students, our child nutrition staff had to adjust their meal preparation and serving procedures to provide for social distancing and students who had meals picked up or delivered, bus drivers had to rearrange routes to provide for social distancing and supervise to make sure students were wearing masks, coaching staff had to adjust practices to account for social distancing, and administration and office staff worked tirelessly to communicate with parents, contact trace, and adjust schedules. We can't begin to imagine running the school during pandemic times without our valuable staff, each staff member will receive a $1000 stipend. We also understand how difficult it is to recruit new teachers. It's a very competitive environment right now and we realize many schools have vacant, unfillable positions. We are fortunate to be fully staffed and would like to thank our new employees for agreeing to jump onboard with us during these difficult times. All new hires will receive a $1000 recruitment stipend.
In order to maintain operations of the district, general operational costs will be paid with ESSER III funds. Examples of these costs are: Accounting and Student Information System software, OSIC OSAG, postage, and internet/phone costs.
How will Sequoyah Public Schools ensure that the interventions it implements will respond to the academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs of students, and particularly those students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, including students from low-income families, students of color, English learners, children with disabilities, students experiencing homelessness, children in foster care, and migratory students?
Sequoyah Public Schools is committed to providing high-quality, equitable education services to its students and families. Our teachers are continuously working with children who are exhibiting learning loss,
social-emotional difficulties, etc. as a result of school interruptions and the impact of COVID-19. As our buildings develop their individual plans, they will be identifying their measurement to determine whether their interventions are successful. Our population is close to 40% Native American and our staff works with the Indian Ed Coordinator to make sure our NA students have the resources they need to be successful in school. In addition, the Cherokee Nation has provided hot-spots free of charge for our Cherokee students. This helps ensure they will have access to the necessary technology in the event of quarantine or the need for virtual learning. SPS has Chromebooks available for checkout to assist those families who have multiple children and not enough devices, children in foster care, low-income students, etc.
Following is the distribution of ESSER III funds. These funds will be available from 2021/22 through 2022/24. Over the next three years, SPS plans on spending these awarded funds as follows:
|
|
Amount |
Balance |
|
Total Allocation |
|
$1,102,293.99 |
|
Learning Loss Set Aside |
$220,458.80 |
$881,835.19 |
|
Operations |
$ 421,410.13 |
$460,425.06 |
|
Technology |
$55,000.00 |
$405,425.06 |
|
Recruitment/Retention Stipend |
$154,560.83 |
$250,864.23 |
|
Transportation (bus, etc.) |
$80,000.00 |
$170,864.23 |
|
PE (Physical well-being) |
$80,000.00 |
$90,864.23 |
|
Maintenance (AC, etc.) |
$60,000.00 |
$30,864.23 |
|
Indirect Cost |
$30,864.23 |
($0.00) |
Watson, J. & McIntyre, N. (2020). Rapid evidence review: Educational television. EdTech Hub, https://edtechhub.org
